Tuesday, 19 April 2016

Six years on form their last
full-length studio album the duo of Ordo Rosarius Equilbrio return
with one of their most ambitious albums to date. The band's latest
album, 'Vision:Libertine – The Hangman's Triad', was originally
planned as an EP, but over the course of three years it steadily
evolved into an epic double album that revisits the band's earlier
tribal leanings with their more recent darkly sensual tones. The
themes of lust, ritual and spiritual sexuality still loom large over
the eerie and sombre sonic formula as they do on all ORE releases.
But this album take things deeper and darker than ever before.

The
songs are as sexy as they are bleak. The haunting neoclassical and
ambient electronics blended with neo-folk are given a boost by
percussive and acoustic support from Empusae’s Sal-Ocin. Songs such
as 'Eschatos And Hedone - The Killing of Ataraxia', 'Flesh 4 Flesh &
Kingdom Come', 'The Fire the Fool and the Harlot (The Hangmans
Triad)', and 'Holy Blood Holy Union' dominate the first disc with
their strong rhythms and sinister classical strains. While the likes
of 'The Misanthropic Polygamist (How Gods Dream)', 'Venus In Nothing
But Nylons And Pearls', 'The Tribalism Of Tribadism (Evil Men Have No
Songs)', and 'Four Pretty Little Horses And the Four Last Things On
Earth' kick disc two into submission in similar fashion.

The
album builds on the near cinematic scope of the band's previous
release 'Songs 4 Hate & Devotion' and pushes the band's
conceptual framework further than ever before. Their Sade-esque
erotica and Crowlian symbolism collide with some of the most
apocalyptic compositions in their back catalogue so far. The
production keeps pace nicely and keeps a wonderfully cavernous
atmosphere for the percussion while the guitars and vocals sound
close and intimate.

'Vision:Libertine – The Hangman's
Triad' is the result of a band pushing themselves harder than ever
before, and the result is a joyous listening experience. Heavy on
atmosphere and explicit of content this album feels like the
culmination of a career of effort distilled into an immersive
two-disc album.